Vallejo police coax man down from freeway overpass

Vallejo Police Officers talk to man who was threatening to jump off the Georgia Street overpass onto Highway 80 in Vallejo as members of the Solano County Sherriff's SWAT team make their way up a ladder under the overpass. All lanes of southbound Highway 80 were closed for over 30 minutes. The man was eventually talked down and taken into custody. (Chris Riley/Times-Herald)

Police negotiators successfully coaxed a man down from a Vallejo freeway overpass Thursday.

The incident began at about 1 p.m. when a passerby called police to report a man had climbed onto the large green freeway sign on the north side of the Georgia Street overpass.

California Highway Patrol officers shut down westbound Interstate 80 at Springs Road as Vallejo police officers positioned themselves both on the overpass sidewalk behind cyclone fencing as well as under the overpass.

For about an hour, the man on the sign alternatively walked from one end to the other or sat down with his legs dangling over the freeway as negotiators talked to him.

Police eventually were able to convince the man to come down peacefully. Using a Vallejo Fire Department ladder truck, two officers were lifted up to the sign.

They handcuffed the man, searched him and brought him down via the truck's ladder at about 2 p.m.Westbound traffic reopened several minutes later, though traffic was still sluggish on the eastbound side for some time after.

Vallejo police said the man, 44, was a transient and taken to a local hospital for a mental health evaluation.Contact Lanz Christian Bañes at (707) 553-6833 or lbanes@timesheraldonline.com. Follow him on Twitter @LanzTimesH.